Dr. Richard Romano
Gerald L. Gunter Memorial Professor Dr. Richard Romano received a UF Research Foundation Professorship for the 2013-2016 term.

Romano awarded UF Research Foundation Professorship

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Gerald L. Gunter Memorial Professor Dr. Richard Romano was one of 34 University of Florida faculty members awarded a UF Research Foundation Professorship for 2013-2016.

UFRF professorships are awarded to tenured faculty members who have a distinguished current record of research that places them among the leaders in their discipline, and an active current research program that is likely to lead to continuing distinction in their field. Candidates, who are nominated by their Department Chairs, are judged on criteria such as publication in leading scholarly journals in the field, monographs or other scholarly works, citation analysis, awards in their field, evidence of consistent external funding and evidence of development of intellectual property.

The professorship includes a $5,000 annual salary supplement and a one-time $3,000 grant.

“I am deeply honored to receive the professorship,” said Dr. Romano, who also received a UFRF Professorship for the 2004-06 term. “It’s great to be a Florida Gator!”

Dr. Romano’s current research agenda consists of projects in three related areas. The first project regards competition among institutions of higher education and related public policy. Through the creation of a theoretical and simulation model, Dr. Romano and his co-researchers plan to examine the consequences of changes in state policies regarding university funding and changes in federal loan and grant policies for higher education. Dr. Romano’s second project concerns the political economy of alternative tax instruments. From the perspective that the combination of different types of taxes arises in a political equilibrium, the project provides a political model and thus explanation for alternative tax systems. His third project regards the efficiency properties of alternative forms of finance of local public goods, the main example being public schooling.

Dr. Romano teaches managerial economics and game theory in the MBA and Specialized Master’s Programs, and microeconomics and public finance in the Ph.D. program. He has been a professor at the Warrington College of Business Administration since 1982.

Dr. Romano has served on the editorial boards of top economic publications including American Economic Review, Journal of Public Economics, Education Finance and Policy and Journal of Urban Economics. He has also served as the Associate Editor of Journal of Public Economic Theory. He has authored more than 50 journal articles and papers.

Dr. Romano earned two academic degrees from the University of Pittsburgh: A Bachelor of Arts in Economics with high honors in 1977 and a Ph.D. in Economics in 1982.